Meter box



L. G. HAASE July 2, 1929.

METER BOX Filed Sept. 26, 1927 EME e www H g. w L

Patented July 2, 1929. l i i. l i I UNITED STATES PATENT oFEieE,N

LEO G. HAASE, 0F LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA.

METER BOX.

Application filed September, 192'?.` Serial N'o. 221,958.

rlhis invention relates to meterl boxes and visions of this invention, the cover being one oi the principal objects ot the invention shown turned into open position. is to facilitate opening and closing of the Figure 2 is a longitudinal mid-section oi cover of the box so that a large number oit the meter boX shown in Figure 1,the cover 5 meters can be read by the meterI reader in a being inclosed position. The meter and itsl 60 minimum; time with an expenditure ot a connections are indicated by broken lines. nnnimum amount of exertion in opening Figure 3 is a reduced inverted plan view and closing the cover. oi the cover.

rlhe salability oi" a meter box depends not Figure ll` is a vertical transverse section ot w only upon its simplicity of construction and the meter box, the cover being' shown in open 65 low; cost, but largely upon those features position and theplaneol section being inthat malte it possible tor the meter reader to dicated in Figure 2 b y the line lie-411. i AY tool quickly openand close the cover with a minifor use in openingaiul closing the cover is mum amount ot exertion tor, it will be indicated in broken lines connected to the readily understood, that the quicker the cover. 70 cover can be opened and closed and the less Referring to the drawings, the meter box` exertion is made in performing this operacomprises a `case 6 of suitable height and tion, the more meters the meter reader can length to properly house the meter a and read in a given time. Meter boxes were torvalve 7J. The case 6 has in its top an elon- 20 merly constructed ot wood, and some ot gate opening "if `At least one end wall S ot them were constructed of iron, and many ot' the opening 7 is approximately semi-circuthe present meter boxes are ot cement conlar and, in this instance, the other end wall struction. |The meter boxes are of rela- 9 is also semi-circular. The case isprovided tively large size and, accordingly, when cona short distance below the top thereof with structed ot iron or cement the covers are an inwardly.projecting ledge 10. The ledge quite heavy and it will be apparent that a 10 is preferably wider adjacent the end walls construction that will admit oit sliding or 8, 9 than along the side walls 11, 12 et the turning the cover will make the reading` of Case. In this instance, the side walls 11, 12 the meters easier than it the construct-ion is Vare straight and substantially parallel. 3e such that requires the covers to be raised or Adapted to tit the opening 7 is a cover 13 @55 lifted out et the c* se. l An object of this inand, since the end walls 8, 9 aresemi-cireular, vention is to provide a construction which the ends ot the cover are also"semifcircular will permit ot the cover being turned so ast-o as indicated at lll, 15. The cover 1B is adaptexpose the 'meter dial to view and to permit ed to seaton the ledge 10 and, I ne'terably, the :i5 ot the cover being entirelyA removed when edge ot the cover is downwardly and inward- 90 it is desired to make repairs to the meter or ly bevelled.. rllhe walls oit the opening 7 are to turn on or oitl the Huid that `Flows through also downwardly and inwardly bevelled. the meter. Preferably, one end ot the cover 13 is bevelled An important object of the invention is to a slighter degree than the other end and 4e to provide a construction that will tend to thelongitudinal'edges so tlnit,wl1entl1e other 95 retain one end ot an elongate cover in pow end ot' the cover raised and turned to bring sition while the cover' is being turned about the cover into the open position shown in said end. Figures 1 and el, the upper corner ot' the Animportant Objectis to provide a loose cover which lies adjacent to the wall of the connection between the cover and case that opening 7 will not bear against the said wall 100 will permit oit' turning oiithe cover and, at and torce the cover inwardly `on the ledge the saine time, will permit oi total removal 10. lf this occurred there would be a tendoit the cover from the case, when that beency 'for that end of the cover that rides comes desirable. on the ledge to tip downwardly and permit ce Other objects and advantages will appear the cover to tall into the case. 105

in the subjoined detailed description. It 'is preferable to provide a `vertically ex- The accompanying drawings will illustending hole 16 in the cover 13 to permit trate the invention: ot the insertion ot the hoolr shaped end ot `Figure 1 is a perspective view oit a meter a tool ot the type, tor example, indicated at o5 box constructed 1n accordance with the pro- 17, said tool facilitating raising ot one end ll@ open vand closed positions.

Aso

of the cover and turning, of the cover into j Preferably the hole 16 is counter-bored at its lower end, as indicated at 18, so as to reduce the thickness of the cover at that point and permit of entrance `of the hook shaped end of the tool 1.7.

The cover is provided on its under face with a downwardly projecting Vcurved flange 19 adapted, when the cover is raised at one end and tur-ned 'about its lcurved end, to engage the adjacent end wall 8 of the open- 'ing 7, thus holding that portion of the cover, around which the cover turns, against slid- `ing ofi' of the ledge 10 and. falling into the case. In this instance, the flange 19 is semicircular `'and the outer face thereof is complementary to the semi-circular wall 8.

In operating the cover into the open and closed positions, it is of advantage to have the cover weighted at the end about which the cover turns and, in `this instance, the weight v ing is "secured :by providinga` downward-ly projecting circular thickened portion 20. The diameter of the thickened portion 2O is approximately twice as great as the radius of the semi-circular end ywall of the opening, anl the edge of said thickened port-ion, in this instance is'downwardly and inwardly bevelled. A portion ofthe thickened portion 20 constitutes the base vportion of the flange I9 and the outer face ofthe flange 19 is also downwardly and vinwardly ybevelled to agree with the bevellingof the thickened portion 20.

It may be desirable, in some instances, to loosely connect vthe cover to fthe -case Vso that the cover cannot ,be misplaced or lost or raised and then allowed to fall. If the cover were raised and thenallowed to fall -it would be apt to be broken. In this particular instance the means for loosely connecting the coverto they case pivotally connects said cover tothe case and is constructed as follows:

Projecting downwardly fromthe cover 13,

' f between the flange 19 andthe adjacent end of said cover, is a stud 21 'that constitutes a pivot and that'may be formed by inserting a stove bolt in a vert-ical hole 22 in the cover.

24 is of a diameter su'liieientto `permit of tilting therein oflthe Ystud 21so that the cover may be turned without raising itat-the pivotede'nd. The outer end of the arm v25 is provided with screw threads 27 to receive a nut 28 wliich'preventsfthe-arm 25 becoming detached from the casing. The reason for providing holes126 at opposite ends of the case is that, in installing the case in the eaitli, if the workmen make a mistake and place the case so that when the cover is opened the dial of the meter is beneath the end of the cover about which the cover turns, said cover can be detached from the case and turned end for end and then pivotally attached to the case in the new position.

I In operation, to open the cover, the tool 17 or its equivalent will be attached to the cover by inserting it in the hole 16 and said tool will then be pulled upwardly to raise one end of the cover and said tool will then be pulled laterally so as to swing the cover about the axis of the pivot 21 into the open position shown in Figures 1 and 4. To close the cover, the operations just described will be performed in a reverse order.

From the foregoing it will be seen that, in opening the cover, it is only necessary to raise a weight equivalent to about one half of the weight of the cover and that, as soon as the cover has been turned suf'liciently to .engage the under face thereof with the top edge ol the case, the remainder of the opening move-- nient is secured by simply rotating the cover while it rests, partly upon the upper edge of the case and partly upon the ledge 10. It should be understood that the pivotal connection between the cover and case is not absolutely necessary and that the same may be omitted within the scope of the invention as expressed in some of the accompanying claims.

If desired, on the stud 21 may be placed a. washer 29 which is held in place by a cotter pin 30 extending through the stud 21, so as to prevent the cover from being raised suiliciently to disengage the stud from the bearing 24. IVhen it is desired to entirely remove the cover for repairs to the meter, installation of a new meter, or turning on or shutting olf the fluid that is measured by the meter, either the nut 2S 'may be removed and the cover slid suliiciently to withdraw the arm 25 from the hole 26, or the cotter pin 30 and washer 29 may be removed from the stud 21 to permit the cover being raised to withdraw the stud from the bearing.

I claim:

1. A meter box comprising a case having an elongate opening in its top, an end wall of said opening being approximatelysemicircular, the case provided with :in inwardly projecting ledge, and a cover fitting the openingand seating on the ledge, the cover provided with a downwardly projecting curved flange vcomplementary to the semi-circular end wall and adapted when the cover is raised at one end and turned about its cuived flange to engagethe adjacent end wall of the opening.

2. A meter box comprising a case having an elongate opening in its top, an end wall of said opening being approximately semilll() circular, the case provided with an inwardly projecting ledge, and a cover fitting the opening and seating on the ledge, the cover provided with a downwardly projecting approximately semi-circular flange complementary to the semi-circular end wall and adapted when the cover is raised at one end and turned about its semi-circular flange to engage the adjacent end wall of the opening.

3. A meter box comprising a case having an elongate opening in its top, an end wall of said opening being approximately semicireular, the case provided with an inwardly projecting ledge, and a cover having a semicircular end fitting the opening and seating on the ledge, the cover provided at its seini circular end with a downwardly projecting approximately circular thickened portion of a diameter approximately twice as great as the radius ol' the semi-circular end wall of the opening.

4. A meter box con'iprising a case having an elongate opening in its top, an end wall of said opening being approximately semicircular, the ease provided with an inwardly projecting ledge, a cover provided with a downwardly projecting curved flange cornplen'ientary to the semi-circular end wall and iitting the opening and seating on the ledge and adapted to be raised at one end and turned on the ledge about its curved flange,

and a means loosely connect-ing the cover to the case. j

5. A meter box comprising a ease having an elongate opening in itstop, an end wall of' said opening being approximately semicireular, the case provided with an inwardly projecting ledge, a cover provided with a downwardly projecting curved flange coniplementary to the semi-circular end wall and fitting the opening and seating on the ledge and adapted to be raised at one end and turned on the ledge about its curved flange, and a means pivotally connecting the cover to the case.

`(5. A meter box comprising a case having an elongate opening in its top, an end wall of said opening being approximately semicircnlar, the ease provided with an inwardly projecting ledge, and a cover pro-vided with a downwardly projecting curved flange coinplernentary to the semicircular end wall and fitting the opening and seating on the ledge and adapted to be raised at one end and turned on the ledge about its curved flange, said cover being of greater weight at its lflanged end.

7. A meter box comprising a ease having an elongate opening in its top, an end wall o'l' said opening being apjjiroximately semicircular, `the ease provided with an inwardly projecting ledge, a cover litting the opening and seating on the ledge, the cover provided with a downwardly p roj ectin g approximately se1ni-eireular flange, and with a stud, a bearing for the stud secured to the case, the bearing being of a diameter sufficient to permit ol tilting therein of the stud so that the cover may be turned without-raising it at the pivoted end.

Signed at Los Angeles, Calif., this 13 day of September, 1927.

LEG G. HAASE. 

